KBC Group NV Increases Position in Agilent Technologies, Inc. $A

KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,184 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 757 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Agilent Technologies were worth $8,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of A. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Agilent Technologies by 6.2% during the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 98,400 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $11,631,000 after buying an additional 5,767 shares during the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Agilent Technologies during the second quarter worth $1,999,000. Fenimore Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Agilent Technologies by 2.7% during the second quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 180,880 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $21,346,000 after acquiring an additional 4,823 shares in the last quarter. Nuance Investments LLC increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 80,698 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,523,000 after acquiring an additional 9,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Agilent Technologies by 89.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,068 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after acquiring an additional 4,284 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Padraig Mcdonnell sold 12,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $1,873,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 33,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,017,200. This trade represents a 27.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on A. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Agilent Technologies from $141.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Rothschild Redb raised Agilent Technologies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Agilent Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Agilent Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Agilent Technologies from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.62.

Agilent Technologies Price Performance

NYSE:A opened at $146.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.77. Agilent Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.43 and a 1 year high of $153.84.

Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The medical research company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37. Agilent Technologies had a return on equity of 25.51% and a net margin of 17.97%.The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.32 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Agilent Technologies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.560-5.590 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 1.570-1.600 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Agilent Technologies, Inc. will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Agilent Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.248 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $0.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Agilent Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies, Inc provides application focused solutions to the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Life Sciences and Applied Markets, Diagnostics and Genomics, and Agilent CrossLab. The Life Sciences and Applied Markets segment offers liquid chromatography systems and components; liquid chromatography mass spectrometry systems; gas chromatography systems and components; gas chromatography mass spectrometry systems; inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry instruments; atomic absorption instruments; microwave plasma-atomic emission spectrometry instruments; inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry instruments; raman spectroscopy; cell analysis plate based assays; flow cytometer; real-time cell analyzer; cell imaging systems; microplate reader; laboratory software; information management and analytics; laboratory automation and robotic systems; dissolution testing; and vacuum pumps, and measurement technologies.